Climate finance in the Pacific: An overview of flows to the region’s Small Island Developing States

Between 2010 and 2014, US$748 million in climate finance was committed to 15 Pacific SIDS, primarily as grants and delivered through bilateral channels. Adaptation received 59% of this funding, while 36% went to mitigation. The majority of support (86%) was project-based, with a strong focus on creating an 'enabling environment' for climate policy and planning.

• From 2010 to 2014, a total of US$748 million in climate finance primarily targeting climate change was committed to 15 Pacific Island countries, representing approximately 6% of all reported flows for the region in the OECD Creditor Reporting System. This funding consisted almost entirely of grants.
• Climate finance was distributed with 59% allocated to adaptation, 36% to mitigation, and 5% targeting both objectives. In the mitigation sector, the largest share of funding was directed toward renewable energy.
• Bilateral channels provided 72% of the total funding, with Australia serving as the largest bilateral donor, followed by Japan, the European Union, and New Zealand. Among multilateral sources up to 2014, the Global Environment Facility (including the GEF Trust Fund and the Least Developed Countries Fund) was the dominant provider.
• Since 2015, there have been significant multilateral allocations, including US$31.1 million from the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience to Papua New Guinea and Samoa, and US$68 million from the Green Climate Fund to Fiji and Tuvalu, alongside readiness support for Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Cook Islands.
• The vast majority of climate finance (86%) is delivered as project-based support. Direct budget support is rare, accounting for only 2% (1% general and 1% sector budget support) and was only provided to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Samoa.
• The largest share of funding across sectors was used to create an "enabling environment," which includes mainstreaming climate change into national planning and developing climate policies. For adaptation specifically, research was the second-largest category of support.
• Regional patterns show that Melanesian countries received the largest total amounts, while Polynesian countries were more successful than Micronesian countries in attracting finance on both a total and per capita basis, utilizing a greater diversity of sources and sectors.

APA

Atteridge, A., & Canales, N. (2017). Climate finance in the Pacific: An overview of flows to the region’s Small Island Developing States. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WP-2017-04/SEI-WP-2017-04-Pacific-climate-finance-flows-FM.pdf

Chicago

Atteridge, Aaron, and Nella Canales. Climate finance in the Pacific: An overview of flows to the region’s Small Island Developing States. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2017. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WP-2017-04/SEI-WP-2017-04-Pacific-climate-finance-flows-FM.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Atteridge |first1=Aaron |last2=Canales |first2=Nella |title=Climate finance in the Pacific: An overview of flows to the region’s Small Island Developing States |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=January 2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WP-2017-04/SEI-WP-2017-04-Pacific-climate-finance-flows-FM.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{atteridge2017climate, author = {Atteridge, Aaron and Canales, Nella}, title = {{Climate finance in the Pacific: An overview of flows to the region’s Small Island Developing States}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WP-2017-04/SEI-WP-2017-04-Pacific-climate-finance-flows-FM.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }